Consider two retailers struggling in a tough consumer market with recession looming and you may wonder whether a billion-dollar-plus offer from video store Blockbuster for electronics retailer Circuit City makes much sense. So-called “synergies” seem obvious - there are plenty of strip malls graced with both stores. Investors have been promised big things from Blockbuster for months, with its share price sitting near all-time lows of around $3 per share, and with Circuit City in proxy war with investor Mark Wattles, it’s not hard to see why the urge to merge is so strong. It will be very interesting to see where the financing comes from, given that much of what Blockbuster has to offer is real estate.

Chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli says it is determined to remain independent and would reject a takeover offer three times higher than the group’s current value. Chief Executive Ernst Tanner told Le Temps newspaper that even a theoretical offer of 20 billion Swiss francs ($19.94 billion) from Swiss-based Nestle — valuing chocolate maker Lindt at around three times its current value of about $7 billion — would not be sweet enough to tempt them. A spokesman for Lindt said that the group had not received any takeover bid from Nestle.

Chinese coal mining giant Shenhua Energy has denied a report that it plans to buy a stake in mining major Anglon American, and dashed speculation that it was among a group interested in BHP Billiton. The report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted unnamed sources as saying Shenhua was seeking a strategic tie-up with Anglo American and could buy up to 10 percent of the firm, a stake worth $8.7 billion at current market prices, but the talks were at a very early stage.

Deal of the day:
* Manitowoc, a U.S. maker of cranes and restaurant equipment, has agreed to acquire British food equipment maker Enodis for around 948 million pounds ($1.9 billion).
* Britain’s Titan Europe has received a 230 pence ($4.54) per share, all-share takeover offer from U.S.-based former parent organisation Titan International.